Pearl Jam
Lost Dogs

THE REVIEW

Christmas is approaching, and like every year, "best of," "the very best of," "the essential," "anthology" collections start appearing from a bunch of bands, maybe with limited editions, which obviously come out AFTER, resulting in the true fan having already bought the "basic" version and if they want something extra, they have to pay again...

"Lost Dogs" is different.

It's Pearl Jam: it can't be like the others.

For those who don't know them: their way of doing things is different NOT in the sense of "look at how cool we are, we who stand out from the others," but because they go their own way, with their own ideas, which one might not agree with, but which have their own reason. Here we're talking about a DOUBLE CD of rarities, b-sides, songs released as Christmas singles for the fan club, songs written for benefit compilation albums, covers, etc. These are songs that cover the entire spectrum of their decade-long career, and this contributes to making the work very HETEROGENEOUS: although many (almost all) of the songs were re-recorded, you can tell they belong to different artistic periods. The type of songs also emphasizes this fact: it ranges from the grunge of the instrumental "Brother" and "Alone," to the punk of "Leaving Here," the Beach Boys-esque "Gremmie out of control," the folk/country of "Drifting," and so on. In terms of vocals, Eddie Vedder hands the microphone over to Jeff Ament (the bassist) in "Sweet Lew," to Stone Gossard (one of the guitarists) in "Don't gimme no lip," and to Jack Irons (former drummer) in "Whale song."

There would be a thousand anecdotes to tell about each song, anecdotes that are described in the CD booklet (whose artwork is, as always, meticulously crafted), but here I will limit myself to recalling the ghost track at the end of the second CD: it's an unreleased song dedicated to Layne Staley, written by Vedder the night he learned of the death (from overdose) of his friend; a touching, simple, and heartfelt farewell.

It's time to draw conclusions: do I buy it or not?

It depends... if you like them, it's definitely worth buying (even though in the end, the true fan will already have it at home!), if you don't know them... honestly I can't recommend it 100%... it's really too heterogeneous to start listening to them with this CD... it might disorient.

For many, but not for everyone. Needless to say, I'm more than happy to be among the many!

One anecdote above all. It's 1992, and there's a song that's notably successful: musically carefree, cheerful, young band, with a fitting video. I'm talking about "No Rain" by Blind Melon. In the video (as well as on the single's cover), the protagonist is a chubby bespectacled little girl who dances and goes around dressed as a bee... From watching this video, "Bee Girl" was born, written by Vedder, who commented: "The girl in the video was nine and... there are no other words, she was so detestable and loved being a star... and it was like I was trying to tell her, hey, it's not the most important thing in your life. It can't be. You will die." Acoustic guitar and vocals, a very sweet song tinged with bitterness, a play on words in the chorus (Bee girl... be a girl...): a fantastic song.